New mpox cluster in Chicago prompts concern

by Liz Highleyman

Health officials in Chicago have reported a new cluster of 13 mpox cases among gay men, raising concern about a possible resurgence this summer, which unofficially kicks off during the upcoming International Mr. Leather contest over Memorial Day weekend.

A majority of the men were fully vaccinated, which suggests waning protection. Nonetheless, local and national health authorities are urging people at risk to start or complete vaccination ahead of next month’s Pride events.

“We want to make sure that everyone can enjoy a happy and healthy Pride,” San Francisco health officer Dr. Susan Philip said in a Department of Public Health statement. “If you received your first dose of the mpox vaccine, even if it was in the fall, it is not too late – now is a great time to get your second dose.”

It takes about two weeks after the second dose of the Jynneos vaccine to develop maximum immunity. People who get their first dose now will be eligible for a second dose four weeks later

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From page 4 al, oil, gas, timber, and mining land, and the bill has not as yet been signed, though it has been passed by the Texas Senate).

“The basic [modus operandi] for the Legislature – any legislature, especially the Texas Legislature – is that the people in charge look for communities, look for

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From page 6

“We’ve organized hundreds of letters to be written to the Board of Supervisors and the Planning Commission and the Historic Preservation Commission,” he said. “We have been organizing and we have hundreds of supporters. This is a point we need to be able to speak collectively, which is why we have formalized these organizing efforts.”

Part of that has been a letter to the conservancy critiquing its plans for the theater, announced two weeks ago and rejected by both APE and the theater’s owners, the Nasser family, as the B.A.R. reported. The conservancy wants to buy

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From page 6

SF City Hall gearing up for Pride weddings

San Francisco City Administrator Carmen Chu and the Office of the County Clerk once again invite couples to celebrate their love and tie the knot

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From page 8

Heklina

In early April, shocking news appeared on social media that iconic San Francisco drag queen Heklina had unexpectedly died in her London hotel room. It was reported by her friend Peaches Christ (Joshua Grannell), who was in London for a joint performance of “Mommie Queerest.” Heklina was the creation of Stefan Grygelko, named after the active Hekla volcano in her native Iceland. London officials do not suspect foul play in her death.

Since the early 1990s, Heklina had been the premier drag artist in Bay Area queer nightlife that featured irreverent shows and annual contests at various clubs. She got her start in 1996 as a founder of Trannyshack, a weekly drag show at the Stud bar (now closed) that operated through 2008 (the show name was later changed to Mother).

Each week featured an over-the-top, noholds-barred riff on the political, social, racial, and gender controversies of the and should be fully protected by late June, the DPH noted.

This week, San Mateo County Health officials also urged at-risk individuals to protect themselves against the mpox virus as Pride Month approaches. After more than six months without a case, San Mateo County health officials reported one case this month, according to a news release.

Clusters in Chicago and France

Mpox cases have declined dramatically since the outbreak peaked late last summer, likely due to a combination of behavior change, vaccination, and natural immunity after infection. In late April, the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention saw the first week with zero new case reports.

To date, the CDC has identified 30,361 mpox cases in the United States and more than 87,000 cases worldwide, mostly among men who have sex with men and their sexual partners.

But the reprieve may not last. As of May 9, Howard Brown Health in Chi- groups that are convenient targets, people don’t necessarily understand, don’t necessarily have sympathy for, and there’s an ‘ick’ factor that they use,” Wu said.

Wu, who’s been a state representative since 2013, said, “If I lose my seat doing what is right: good. Good.”

“What is going to actually stop this –the real thing that will stop this line of attacks, not just against the transgender community or the LGBT community the theater outright or have the Nassers sign a 60-year lease if APE is no longer able or willing to make the changes.

The new neighbors’ group’s letter stated: “We hope that you will respect our voices as LGBTQ+ community members and those most impacted by your actions. End your call to ‘Save the Seats,’ and instead think about how you can constructively contribute to saving the Theatre, the neighborhood, and the Castro’s place at the center of LGBTQ+ culture.”

Rob Byrne, a straight ally who is the president of the Castro Theatre Conservancy, stated to the B.A.R., “Since our founding, our mission has remained the same: to maintain the Castro Theatre as at a special LGBTQ+ Pride celebration at City Hall. The county clerk has made available extra marriage ceremony appointments on Friday, June 23, the start of Pride weekend in San Francisco.

According to a news release, couples will wed in a festive atmosphere celebrating the city’s LGBTQ+ history and culture and receive special Pride souvenir marriage licenses. Wedding parties will be in- day. Heklina threw out the rule book for drag performers: she welcomed female performers (known as faux queens) and drag kings to her stage. As recalled in the Bay Area Reporter by Adriana Roberts, a trans woman and early Trannyshack performer, “Coming from a punk rock ethos, she created a space that welcomed performers from across the gender spectrum, at a time when drag was VERY codified into TIRED (her words) tropes of men in sequined gowns doing diva lip-syncs. None of us realized it at the time, but she helped revolutionize the concept of what drag could be, breaking its mold years before the rest of the world caught on.”

In 2015 Heklina opened Oasis, a nightclub in the South of Market neighborhood, with fellow drag artist D’Arcy Drollinger and investors. It was one of the few performance spaces that featured drag shows, dance nights, musicals, concerts, and fundraisers. In her own statement emailed to supporters of Oasis on April 4, Drollinger called Heklina’s passing “a devastating blow to the community” that was personally in the Centre-Val de Loire region south of Paris, mostly diagnosed after March 1. But only two new cases were reported in France in April, suggesting that this may not be the start of an ongoing outbreak. While the overall number of mpox cases worldwide continues to decline, there are other trouble spots, according to the World Health Organization. WHO recently reported that of the 111 newly confirmed cases in Africa during the last two weeks of April, 106 were in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Japan and South Korea have also seen recent outbreaks. cago, which serves the LGBTQ community, had diagnosed eight new mpox cases since mid-April, after diagnosing only one case during the preceding three months. Chicago health officials have identified a total of 12 confirmed cases and one probable case – the largest cluster seen in the United States this year. All were gay or bisexual men, according to the local health department.

In particular, he urged unvaccinated people who plan to attend International Mr. Leather weekend at the end of May to get their first dose as soon as possible.

SF DPH strongly recommends two doses of the Jynneos vaccine for all people living with HIV, anyone taking or eligible to take PrEP, and “all men, trans people, and nonbinary people who have sex with men, trans people, or nonbinary people.” Anyone outside those groups who wants protection against mpox may also request the vaccine.

Similarly, French health officials recently reported a cluster of 17 new mpox cases an iconic LGBTQ+ resource and mixedperformance venue. We continue to work towards unifying the community with that mission in mind.”

… is for good people, average Americans, average Texans, to stand up and say ‘No. No more. Enough … When you focus on these kind of issues, we will punish you. We will vote against you,’” Wu added.

Wu said that’s what makes visibility important, since people knowing a gay or lesbian person was instrumental in their fights for equality, such as same-sex marriage.

“APE insists that they must remove the orchestra floor seating to operate the Castro, but we know the theater can accommodate diverse and varied programming – and real community benefits – without demolishing its interior,” he added. “It’s unfortunate that APE threatens to shutter the theater when the conservancy has a fully-funded plan to begin operating it immediately, keeping it open 365 days a year.

“We know the Castro Theatre can thrive as a nonprofit, multi-use venue with film, comedy shows, concerts, vited to take pictures in a photo booth set up in the North Light Court of City Hall. The county clerk’s office has played a role in the actions city government has taken toward equality for people of all genders and orientations, the release stated. In 2004, of course, the clerk’s office issued the first same-sex marriage license to now-deceased lesbian pioneers Phyllis Lyon and Del Martin. While heartbreaking. “I have known Heklina for 34 years. Opening the Oasis was a crowning achievement we shared, after performing for so many years in other people’s venues, to create our own space was a dream neither of us believed we could do and yet we did it together. She’s been my Carrie Bradshaw, my Janet Wood, my Darlene Conner, my Phoebe Buffay, and my Dorothy Zbornak. Heklina could push all my buttons and at times make me crazy and I still love her.”

In 2019, Heklina had sold her shares in Oasis and moved to Palm Springs, although you never would have known it because she continued to perform everywhere.

Castro Street will be closed to accommodate the overflow crowd expected for Heklina’s sold-out memorial service scheduled for May 23 at the legendary Castro Theatre. The statement from Grygelko’s estate added that Heklina’s “accomplishments as a performer, producer, and transgressive LGBTQ+ rights advocate have left an indelible mark on drag, the entertainment industry, San Francisco, and the queer communities

Officials urge vaccination

Even if vaccine protection is incomplete for individuals, health officials stress that increasing vaccination is key to keeping mpox under control at the community level.

“The more people who get vaccinated, the better protected the LGBTQ+ community will be from another outbreak of monkeypox this year,” Howard Brown Health chief medical director Dr. Patrick Gibbons stated in a news release.

North Carolina Jones, of Common Cause North Carolina, said that Lieutenant Governor Mark Robinson (R) is on a campaign of hate in the state.

“Robinson is currently making the rounds at the Black churches in the places that I grew up in the hopes of using his fear campaign,” Jones said.

Robinson has said that the trans movement is “of the Antichrist,” and that drag shows, and other events. Our plan includes $20M in renovations and our first priority is to serve the community,” Byrne stated. “There is only one Castro Theatre. Ripping out the seats puts the Castro on an irreversible path to losing this irreplaceable treasure.”

According to the conservancy’s proposal, people in the performing arts and fundraising communities would draft a three-year plan that would lead to a $20$40 million capital campaign for the renovations and improvements.

Torres, representing the Castro Theatre Coalition, stated, “We’re not aiming our advocacy against other community members.”

“We reject APE’s divisive tactics. We those “Winter of Love” marriages were eventually voided by the state, in 2013, after same-sex marriage in California became legal thanks to the U.S. Supreme Court upholding lower court opinions that Proposition 8, California’s same-sex marriage ban, was unconstitutional, the clerks’ office stayed open throughout the weekend so that couples could wed.

Reservations for the upcoming mar- worldwide.”

On June 22, as first reported in the Bay Area Reporter, Darcelle XV and Heklina will be inducted in the National LGBTQ Wall of Honor at the Stonewall Inn bar in New York City, a memorial to deceased LGBTQ luminaries started in 2019 as part of the Stonewall 50 anniversary. The news was announced April 11 after learning of the two drag artists’ passing by Nicole Murray Ramirez, Queen Mother I of the Americas and Nicole the Great, the titular head of the Imperial Court System, the charitable drag organization that began in San Francisco in 1965. “I knew both of them,” Murray Ramirez, a Latino veteran and San Diego community leader, said during a phone interview with the B.A.R. “They inspired and entertained a lot of people. ... Darcelle was a role model for me. ... Heklina as a performer made you laugh. That’s a gift.”

So what makes a drag queen a real queen of all her subjects and all she surveys? It is much more than acting or performance. It means bearing the weight of the crown to justify your right to rule,

To facilitate uptake, DPH has scheduled a vaccination event in the South of Market neighborhood in partnership with Folsom Street Events and the Leather and LGBTQ Cultural District. The next one will take place Saturday, June 10, from noon to 5 p.m. on 12th Street between Folsom and Harrison streets.

Vaccines are also available through health systems, community clinics such as the San Francisco AIDS Foundation’s Strut clinic, and SF DPH-affiliated sites, including City Clinic. For more information, go to sf.gov/information/mpoxvaccine. t

“a church that flies that rainbow flag … is a direct spit in the face to God Almighty.”

“As a trans person myself, who has lived through the anti-LGBT Amendment 1, this is the first fight we’ve considered – me and my wife – have considered leaving my home state,” Jones said, referring to a voter-approved ban on same-sex marriage to the state constitution. t have a plan backed by real funding that seeks to unite the community,” he stated. “We’re sticking to the issues: The Castro Theatre should be activated everyday, and APE is leaving it mostly dark. There is no reason for APE to demolish the theater’s historic interior, limiting community and disability access. And we don’t trust APE to do even the most basic repairs given their $4 million breach of contract at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium.”

As the B.A.R. reported last month, the city’s real estate division maintains APE still owes $4 million in improvements to Polk Hall, a smaller venue inside the Bill Graham auditorium. Perry stated that APE has secured permits and started the work. t riage ceremonies can be made at https:// bit.ly/3MDac09. New appointments for Friday, June 23, will become available on Friday, May 26. Appointments are expected to fill up quickly, the release stated. The fee for a marriage ceremony is $98. For more information, including complete requirements for marriage ceremonies, click on the link above or call 311.t to rally your community, and create and leave a better world for the most vulnerable. The great drag queens inspire us to see our lives from an unexpected perspective by upending conventions of gender and, ultimately, they foster an impulse to see a universe with new possibilities and the courage to present our authentic selves to the world. Darcelle XV and Heklina were sui generis and certainly achieved as much in this life – and they will not be the last of their line bestowing fabulousness and inspiration for generations of LGBTQ people. As supermodel drag queen RuPaul said, “We are all born naked and the rest is drag.”

Rest in power. t

Michael Yamashita, a gay man, is the publisher of the Bay Area Reporter and a founding member of News Is Out, a pioneering national collaborative of queer media outlets where this essay first appeared. The collaborative includes six of the leading local and queer-owned LGBTQ+ publications across the nation.